NHL Hitz 2002

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Midway cuts the fat out of professional hockey to bring you 100% arcade mayhem.

By Fran Mirabella III

Midway's all-new, over-the-top NHL Hitz 2002 is essentially what NBA Jam was to basketball. In the arcade-heavy, on-fire, three-on-three hockey you will experience the sport in its roughest state. A good formula indeed, but in the end its multiplayer longevity highly outweighs the single-player experience.

Varying player skill sets with specific statistics, abilities and attributes

Create-a-player option lets players design their ultimate ice warrior

Extra mini-games including the official NHL super skills competition competitions

One to four players

GameplayBlack Box has crafted a sports title that fits well with the rest of Midway's lineup, but the developers even went a step further and included more features than you might expect. In addition to the standard Exhibition and Championship modes, there is an all-new Franchise mode that allows you to take your own created team through a set of 50 opponents to attempt to grab the Midway Cup.

On top of this, when you complete all three main modes of play ¿ Exhibition, Championship, and Franchise ¿ you will earn credits and attribute points. Credits are used in the Hockey Shop to purchase things such as fantasy stadiums, authentic jerseys, and hidden teams, while attribute points are used to upgrade the skills of the players on your created team.

You almost wouldn't expect this from an arcade-heavy hockey title, but that didn't stop Midway from adding it in. Fortunately for hockey novices and Hitz novices alike there is an almost mini-game-esque Skills mode. Here you can learn the ins and outs of the Hitz control mechanics, mastering how to steal the puck, deke around opponents, hit the hot spots of the goal, check others through the glass, and perform powerful slap shots. There are varying skill levels so as you get better the Skills mode will require more from you.

Once you finally suit up and hop on the ice you will find a pretty intuitive control system. On the offense side of things A-button is for passing, B is for shooting, Y is for deking (spinning), and X helps guard the puck. On the other side of things you can body check with the X-button, select your player with the A-button, and you can steal the puck with the B-button. Finally, there is the all-important turbo function tied to the R and L triggers. It all feels pretty good and the small three-on-three nature of the game sets up the formula for a lot of breakaways and high scoring. It's a total arcade experience, not meant to feel like a true simulation. Remember, checking the other team through the glass is encouraged.

As you improve your skills to work your way through the Championship or Franchise modes the computer AI will begin to ramp up its efforts to compete on the same level. However, you can't help but feel cheated when the CPU catch-up kicks in, scoring more goals than ever to keep pace. There's just not enough skill and intelligence presented by the AI to make it feel like a true win or loss. Due to this single-player matches will eventually begin to feel repetitive. Granted this will happen with every game, but Hitz is more of a come-and-go experience for single-player. It doesn't have enough depth and staying power outside of the urge to upgrade your players and unlock some of the fantasy rinks.

Multiplayer However, Hitz, like many sports titles, has a much bigger draw for multiplayer. The GameCube version only supports four players but that doesn't keep it from being entertaining. The whole core of Hitz 2002 is hardcore, over-the-top action. What's more rewarding than checking your best friend through the glass or knocking him out cold in the dedicated gloves-off, combat mode? You'll see helmets fly off and bodies get checked hard. In the combat mode the game cuts to a one-on-on fight between the two heated players and provides what is probably the deepest fighting engine seen in a hockey game. You can perform light punches, heavy punches, grabs, and even pull back on the analog stick to dodge a fist or two. In the end button-mashing is going to be pretty effective, but you can still make some wrong choices and that makes it all the more rewarding when you win. And believe us, you don't want to lose because your player will be benched, and if he had good stats it really effects your game.

Graphics By GameCube standards Hitz is average. It puts a total of eight players on the ice and all the models are fairly detailed. When the camera is up close for introductions the helmets will draw your eye with nice curves and light reflections. Of course, 90% of the game takes place in an overhead view where you rarely get close to a player mode. From this perspective the game runs quite smoothly at 60 frames per second with only a few hitches. Interestingly, while all the players reflect, they only do so up to the knees. Midway had indicated this would be different for the final version, but it seems that the developers couldn't get the job done in time for launch.

In the end its primarily just a PS2 port. It pales in comparison to the Xbox version which runs fluently during the entire game ¿ even in cutscenes. Furthermore the Xbox version has more vibrant texture work, full reflection maps, as well as real-time shadows of all the players. So, the GameCube version almost looks incomplete in terms of visuals by comparison.

It does of course still retain the great graphical touches such as the impressive fully 3D, polygonal crowd who reacts to the game, cheering and booing. Also, the face of the ice degrades over the course of the game with nicks and scratches from the sharp blades.

Sound Like other Midway titles Hitz 2002 is filled with voiceovers from an overexcited announcer. His commentary is pretty shallow, usually sticking to just calling out player names, "The puck stopped by Maximus!" It really doesn't examine what's going on so much as tell you what you just saw.

Sound effects are also very much what you'd expect from Midway. Lots of cheering from the crowd, screeches that resemble bottle rocket echoes, and the obligatory horn-in-a-can. It fits perfectly with the style of Hitz and even better it has the soundtrack to compliment it. During the Skills mode and during period breaks the music will cut to music from Korn, Fuel, Staind, Limp Bizkit and more. It's a super soundtrack. Our only problem with it is that you don't get to hear it during the game. Sure you wouldn't hear it at a regular game, but then again you wouldn't see players catching fire from in-house lighting bolts either.

The Verdict

Hitz 2002 grabs you and sucks you in with its all-out frenzied gameplay style. The developers realized that it was everyone's dream to check the other team throught he glass and beat them senseless without penalty. They delivered on that. Sadly, the single-player experience wears thin pretty quickly, even with the Franchise mode and full NHL license. This is one of Midway's most common problems. Like an arcade game Hitz lacks long-term appeal, and without the threat of pay-for-play it can wear out quick.

For me Hitz biggest appeal is its multiplayer mode. If you have enough friends to frequently play muliplayer with, it's definitely worth a buy in my book. There's just a certain satisfaction of slamming site Editor-in-Chief Matt Casamassina through the glass that can't be described. Trust me, you'll get the same enjoyment when you're beating your friends into a comatose sate too.